Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-04-11
A CHAPTER OF HISTORY.
What Has Become of Some OF the
Carpetbaggers One Who IS
FfgurativeIy son His Uppsrs."
They Went South in the Army-SOt One
Now In Public Life-How Fortune
Has Smiled and Frowned.
Brooklyn Times.

WASHINGTON, March 24.-"LlVe! why
l don't live anywhere I'm adrift, broke,
figuratively on my uppers!" The speaker
was General W. T. Clark, some time
member of Congress from Galveston,
Tex, and subsequently for many years
special agent of the Internal Revenue
Bureau. He was one of the 'carpe =
| baggers" who came to Washington to
represent the south when the Confederate
states were reconstructed, and his pres
ence at the national capital recalled the
days when these roundly abused
| statesmen were met with here at
every turn, in the capitol, and upon
PENNSYLVANIA avenue. Mr.. Blaine, in his
| book has said that these northern gentle
men who first represented the southern
states were better men than they got
credit for being, and that the task they
undertook was one of the greatest diff
Guilty. Looking back fifteen or sixteen
years and recalling my acquaintance with
these men am inclined to agree with Mr..
Blaine. They represented the idea Of
loyalty to the Union, and not the white
people who lived in their districts and
states, who at first refused to take any
part in politics.
General Clark, like many of his Gear
petbag" associates, went south as SOL
der, and that he was a good one was
proved by the rapidity with which he rose
to the rank of breVet brlgadier-general
He never was g man of much weight
politically, but he made up for what he
lacked by his activity and push. He
didn't 60 back to Texas after his term in
Congress expired, but became one OF the
most lively internal revenue agents Ia the
service. met him in New York and
Utah, and all the way along. and he
always seemed to be on the "dead jump"
think his official record was good one.
Finally he had an attack of that
terrible malady, q desire to own
a newspaper, and bought an interest in
the Fargo (Dakota) Argus. The office
was burned out three times, and twice 1t
rose from the ashes, but each time it lost
some of it's eyes and it scared more
uncertainty and labCriously. "The third
time" said General Clark, 81 stood on
the sidewalk with only the clothes l
wore, and they needed a hat and collar to
make the outfit complete" During the
past year he has earned q precarlOus
living delivering lectures descriptive of
the panoramas of battles that have been
so popular in many cities. He came TO
Washington upon hearing that the place
of Librarian of the Senate was vacant
and applied for it.
81 see you didn't get the Office" said
to General Clark, meeting him few days
later.
"No, an ex-Confederate Virginian got
it, of course" he said. "The Senate is
Republican body and had the promised
support of many of the leading Senators.
But it was of no use. What do you think
one of the Republican Senators told me
yesterday? That l was q - fool for going
into the army. you out to have stayed
at home like some of the rest of US and
got rich,' he said, and I'm blamed if he
isn't right"
"What do you intend to do nOW?"
"Apything by which can earn dollar.
Can you give me iob?"
The meeting with General Clark sug
gested an inquiry as to the present where
abOuts of some of the better known of
the "carpet baggers," and so l sat down
with Colonel John r. French, for many
years Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate,
and together We traced out the careers of
most of them.
Colonel French himself was a "Carpet-
bAgger"-he represe nted North Carolina
district in the House for single term.
He went among the Tar Heels, believe,
to look after the collection of the direct
tax, Just after the war, and
drifted into politics. There are few
men whose career has been more
romantic than his. He was schoolmate
of Henry Wilson, in New Hampshire, one
of the bright, young anti-slavery men of
that state who made such a stir there
about fifty years ago. He published 8
newspaper in Ohio in support of Salmon
P. Chase when he was so poor that he
and his family had nothing but potatoes
to eat, and fear that there was not sU-
perabundance of them. He was depart
ment clerk in Washing on during the war,
and Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate for
many years, during which time he en-
loved the most intimate friend
ship of many of the great
est statesmen this country has ever pro-
duced. A turn in the wheel of politics
set him adrift. In 1880 he was secretary
of the commission to look after the Ute
Indians, and since that time he has mined
for gold in the south, lectured some,
written q book of "reminiscences, which
has not yet been published, managed
ranch and placer mine in COlorado-and
has not got rich. He is one of the most
genial men l ever knew, and his friends
are legion, but that don't seem to bring
him success.
One of the ablest and most respected of
the "carpetbaggers" was General Willard
Warner of Alabama. The war took him
south from his native state, Ohio. He was
Major of the SeventY-sixth Ohio Volun-
teers, was on Sherman's staff in the At
lanta campaign, was promoted to be
Colonel OF the One Hundred and Eightieth
Ohio Volunteers and breveted Brigadier
and Major General for meritorious
service. At the close of the war
he went TO Alabama to engage in the
making of pig iron, land on the RECONSTRUCT
ton of the state was elected Senator. His
company now has one of the largest char
coal iron furnaces in the country, and he
is also interested in severa! others OF the
great enterprises in that now singularly
prosperous state. Any prejudice against
him on account OF his northern birth or
army record has entirely disappeared, and
he is as much hOnOred and respected as
any citizen of the state.